A draft law before the French parliament would force Apple's iTunes Music Store to open up to competition, and make it legal to hack a DRM system to transfer content between devices.

Under the terms of the draft bill, which will be voted on this Thursday, consumers would be able legally to use software that converts digital content into any format.

Stores like iTunes would have to sell music that could be played on a variety of devices, and not just iPods.

"It would no longer be illegal to crack digital rights management (the codes that protect music, films and other content) if it is to enable to the conversion from one format to another," Christian Vanneste, a senior parliamentarian who helps to guide law in France, told Reuters.

"It will force some proprietary systems to be opened up. You have to be able to download content and play it on any device."

The iTunes DRM has already been cracked by Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen, also known as 'DVD Jon' after breaking the DVD encryption code. 

Johansen wrote an application called PyMusique that allowed Linux users to buy music from Apple and play it on any music player.

The French bill is designed to implement the European Union Copyright Directive, which the country failed to do by the December 2002 deadline.

Under the terms of the draft, consumers who download pirated material are liable to a maximum fine of €38 (£26), while file sharers would be fined €150 (£103).

However, manufacturers of illegal file sharing systems would face a fine of €300,000 (£206,000) and up to three years in prison.

"It's rather a radical proposal," said Francisco Amingorance, director of public policy for the Business Software Alliance (BSA)

"But if you are a repeat infringer you get into bigger fines. I'm also assuming it's a per download fine, so that could add up."
The bill has been fiercely opposed by the recording industry and has been significantly watered down. Earlier proposals included legalising P2P systems that charged a monthly fee, and using the fees to compensate copyright holders.